“Mom, I don’t need a mouthguard. No one ever gets hurt.” This is the commonly held view of most kids in sports today. Many think that wearing a mouthguard is not cool. Thinking about it clearly, what really is not cool is getting your teeth knocked out. According to the Academy of General Dentistry, 15 million Americans suffer dental injuries and 5 million teeth are avulsed (knocked out) each year from sports-related injuries. During a single athletic season, athletes have a 1 in 10 chance of suffering a facial or dental injury. The fact is that injuries to the face occur frequently and your teeth can be protected if you are wearing a mouthguard. The American Dental Association has published articles that show that wearing a mouthguard  has been shown to reduce the risk of sport-related dental injuries.

As a private practice orthodontist practicing at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond, WA and Duvall Orthodontics in Duvall, WA, I often get calls from my dental colleagues asking me for help in treating patients that have had mouth injuries. When something hits your teeth at high velocity and high force, your teeth will break (fracture) or be knocked out (avulsed). There are often concomitant injuries to the surrounding soft tissue (lips and face) and bones of the jaw and face.

Here are some examples…

CASE #1

These teeth were smashed in at a basketball game and now the young man, who just moments before had a perfect bite, could not get his teeth to come together:The physician at the game did his best to examine the young athlete and to help re-position the teeth. However, it wasn’t until the young man was in my office, examined and made comfortable with adequate anesthesia, that I was able to re-position his teeth back to a more ideal position. His bite improved but, was not restored. Worse, his teeth were now very mobile. The Scientific Literature supports the idea that these traumatized teeth can be splinted back in place. However, the best splints are the ones that allow for some tooth movement. If the teeth are fixed too rigidly, the teeth will ankylose (fuse to the bone). To prevent ankylosis it is desired to splint the teeth in such a way that they can move slightly during normal function. This movement is called physiologic mobility. One of the best splints following trauma is to have fixed orthodontic appliances (braces) with a light gentle arch wire in place.This patient will undergo limited orthodontic treatment to stabilize his teeth, and help them to move back into their ideal position without ankylosis.

CASE #2

While on vacation, this patient fell and hit her teeth on the bathtub of her hotel room. Her dentist splinted her teeth nicely. She was referred to the endodontist (root canal specialist) to see if she would need endodontic therapy (root canal treatment). The endodontist recognized that the patient’s bite was off and that her splint was too rigid and so the endodontist referred her immediately to me for evaluation.
Again, I anesthetized the patient, repositioned the teeth and splinted them in place with braces and a light arch wire that would allow physiologic tooth movement and bite correction during the healing phase.Now she is back to the bite she always had and almost ready to have her braces off.

Case #3

At Home Depot, this patient was hit in the face when something fell off a high shelf. The dentist rigidly splinted his teeth back in place:

Dental Treatment                                                             vs                                                   My Ortho Treatment

Again the endodontist referred the patient to me to help him achieve the healthiest and best result. Here you can see the the braces are not just locking the teeth into a poor position but acting to stabilize and improve the bite at the same time.

Case #4

This young man was in the outfield at his baseball game when he lost the high fly ball in the sun. It came down and hit him right in the face. Thankfully he was already in braces. The braces likely saved his teeth from being avulsed.

After thoroughly examining his hard and soft tissue I helped him get comfortable with anesthesia, then re-positioned his teeth and placed a new light gentle force arch wire into his braces. You can see how they quickly corrected!

Case #5

Another high school baseball player gets routed to me on a late weekend evening. The baseball had hit him in the face and knocked out his front tooth.
I built up his tooth with composite, placed his braces and tied in his light gentle arch wire. Now he had his gentle force splint in place and his bite improved in the weeks to follow.Soon we were able to take his braces off and he was back to where he started.

At Bruner Orthodontics, we recognize the risk of trauma to all of our patients that compete in contact sports. With the number of injuries that are reported each year it is clear that the best thing you can do for yourself or the athlete in your family is to get a mouthguard and wear it. We are committed to helping provide great oral health for everyone. In fact, if you can’t afford to get a mouthguard give us a call. We provide free mouth guards to not only our patients but to all athletes in our community.

Dr. Matt Bruner and Dr. Lindsey Helgen run a world class orthodontic practice in Redmond and Duvall, WA. If you or someone you know is in need of orthodontic care please give us a call at our office: 425-883-3353. Now be safe and wear your mouthguard!

The post Why You Should Wear a Mouthguard – Dealing with Dental Trauma appeared first on Bruner Ortho.

Every day for the first four months of 2015 we had our great patient Hot Shot Contest going on. Patients that were on time to their appointment, had worn their intra-oral elastics as prescribed, were brushing their teeth well and hadn’t broken any of their braces were given the chance to shoot a basket and immediately win a movie pass or girl scout cookies (purchased from our Girl Scout patients of course).

Anyone that made a basket was invited back to the final shootout for a fun time and a chance to win Beats Headphones!

As always our local community came along side us. We want to thank Pinkabella Cupcakes for the mini cupcakes that provided for each contestant. We also want to thank Jamba Juice of Redmond for providing smoothies for every hot shot!

Watch the video and see how much fun was being had. Thanks for being part of our patient family. We love having the chance to love and care for you, and of course to provide you with world class orthodontic treatment. As always, if you or someone you know is considering orthodontic treatment with braces or invisalign, please have them give us a call at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond, or Duvall Orthodontics, in Duvall!!!

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We love getting to be your orthodontic office of choice. Dr. Bruner and Dr. Helgen consider it an honor to lead our team in caring for you, your families and friends. We want to be the absolute best orthodontic office we can be. That’s why we continue to focus on our four main objectives of our mission to:

1.Always Achieve Clinical Excellence,

2.Demonstrate First Class Customer Service,

3.Build Real and Lasting Relationships, and

4.Provide Affordable Care for All.

When we do our jobs well we finish treatment on all of our patients every 1.5 to 2 years! That’s why we always need new patients and we appreciate and are honored by the referrals of your family and friends. Whenever we are looking ahead we like to look back and remember where we have been. This helps us gain perspective, plan for the future, and anticipate the things ahead. Below is a look at 2014 in words and in video. Again thanks for allowing us to be a part of your lives!

JANUARY 2014 – Dr. Matthew Bruner was awarded “Top Dentist” in Seattle Met Magazine, an award that is voted on by his dental colleagues.

MARCH 2014 – Our Bruner Orthodontic Hot Shot Great Patient Contest ran from January to March: If you came your appointments on time, did a great job brushing, wore your rubber bands as prescribed, and avoided breaking your braces you were eligible to take a shot in our Hot Shot Contest. Just for making the basket, you won a movie ticket and were then eligible to come back for the “Bruner Orthodontics Hot Shot Shoot Out” where 3 iPad mini’s were given away! We had over 50 winners and more fun than ever…

Congratulations to our 3 winners that took home new iPad minis: Lauren D, Caitlyn S, and Carly P!

April 2014 – Voted by you, the members of our community, Dr. Matthew Bruner was recognized as the Best Orthodontist by 425 Magazine. Thank you for such an honor.

In order to thank our patients and celebrate our recognition in 425 Magazine, Bruner Orthodontics hosted a Patient Celebration Event at Zoe Yogurt in Redmond. Every patient was invited to enjoy their favorite frozen yogurt. You can see the highlights in a video below.

May 2014 – Mother’s Day Concluded our annual celebration of moms in our practice. We are intentional in our efforts to help coach our patients in meaningful ways. During the months of March, April and May, our patients were invited to write postcards to their moms during our Annual Mother’s Day Contest. Approximately 500 postcards were mailed out just before Mother’s day thanking our moms for everything that they do for us! Congratulations to Logan M., whose postcard was randomly drawn as our 2014 Winner – her mom won dinner and a movie for a date night compliments of Bruner Orthodontics!

June 2014 – Patient Appreciation. Over 700 patients joined us to watch How to Train your Dragon 2 during our 5^th Annual Patient Appreciation Movie Day. The day was filled with laughs, smiles, prizes, and tons of fun! We had a photo-booth contest, Facebook contest, gave away tons of raffle prizes and our patients enjoyed their concessions too! Congratulations to all the winners at this event but a special shout out to Emily Q. for winning the photo-booth contest, to Garret S. for winning the iPad for the most facebook likes on your movie day picture!

June – September 2014 Summer T-Shirt Contest. Where did you go this summer? During our Summer t-shirt contest, that ran from June through September, our patients sent us pictures from their summer adventures! By entering this fun contest, our patients were eligible to win an iPad mini! Congratulations to Courtney S. and Lindsay F, the winners of our 2014 contest.

October 2014 Continuing Education – At Bruner Orthodontics, we strive to always get better. Our Front Office Team traveled to Anaheim, CA for the Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontics annual meeting. Not only was it fun, we learned a lot about how to make your experience in our office even better!

Following the Halloween Holiday, our healthy patients turned in almost 400 pounds of candy during our Annual Candy Giveback Contest! That candy was donated to charity (and out of our patients hands) and the lucky random winner drawn was Adie S! She won dinner and movie for her family.

November 2014 Teaching Thankfulness

During our Annual Thankful Turkey Contest, our patients were asked to write what they are thankful for on a colorful turkey. The turkeys were posted in our office for all to appreciate. We hope these efforts helped to teach thankfulness to our patient’s. Congratulations to Grace J. for being the random winner of our Thankful Turkey Contest. Grace also took home a new iPad mini!

December 2014 Giving Back

Share the Warmth: During the months of December and January, Bruner Orthodontics collected jackets, gloves, and hats to help people stay warm during the winter. The items were donated to various charities.

Other things that happened in 2014:

2014 was filled with many other things that the Bruner Orthodontics team did to give back to the community. Dr. Bruner and Dr. Helgen gave oral hygiene instruction and supplies to approximately 1,600 students in an effort to eliminate cavities and to help kids have “Healthy Teeth for a Healthy Life.”

2014 was our third year with Dr. Lindsey Helgen in our practice but it was our first year of having her with us full time! We are honored to have added such a kind, caring, compassionate, smart and wonderful orthodontist to our team. Together Dr. Bruner and Dr. Helgen see every patient and every set of records. Together they can offer you more available appointment time, more diagnosing power, and the very best that orthodontics can offer!

2014 was our first full year for our Duvall Orthodontics practice. A special thank you to all who supported us by getting their treatment started in our new location in Duvall!

In 2014 Dr. Bruner gave 11 professional lectures to the orthodontic and dental communities: teaching as an appointed faculty member at the University of Pacific School of Dentistry in San Francisco, and lecturing to local and national dental study clubs throughout the year.

In 2014, the Bruner Orthodontic and Duvall Orthodontic teams sponsored sports at 6 local high schools, drama and music performances at 8 elementary schools and 3 junior high schools, the Riverside Education Foundation, individual patient mission trips, a 5k race, and various charities.

2014 brought about our first ever patient testimonial video. Thank you to our patients, Avanti, Joshua, Adam, Lauren, Hannah, Henry, Arlene, Valerie and Lainie for making this sweet video!

Thank you for choosing Bruner Orthodontics and Duvall Orthodontics. We are honored to serve you and our communities. Your continued support means everything to us and we cherish the referrals of your friends and families. Best wishes for a great 2015!

The post Bruner and Duvall Orthodontics 2014: The Year in Review appeared first on Bruner Ortho.

Here are some of the things I love about teaching orthodontics to doctors in the graduate orthodontic residency program at UOP:

1. There have been massive changes in orthodontics in the last 10 years. Teaching graduate orthodontics helps keep me current, knowledgable, cutting edge, and relevant in these changing times. By keeping up with the art and science of orthodontics I can make certain I am providing the very best care for my patients.

2. Teaching something makes you learn it better. Before speaking to the resident doctors I have to know the subject well. I read, study and prepare for my time teaching. And as it turns out, I love to learn!

3. You are the company you keep. I hope that I may become even somewhat like my amazing mentors and fellow teaching faculty. Being around those that are truly masters of our field is an honor. I love spending time with my colleagues and friends like Dr. Tom Pitts, Dr. John Pobanz and Dr. Bill Schmol.

4. Excellence is contagious. The faculty that give of their time and energy at the dental school are all similarly focused on excellence. The orthodontic residents are truly excellent — all graduated at the top of their dental school classes and are seeking to become outstanding orthodontists. The whole process of teaching ortho makes me want to be a better orthodontist!

5. You get more than you give. Although I teach in order to give back to the profession that I love, I always get more than I give. While trying to teach others, I learn even more. The residents are smart and thoughtful and challenge us to really examine what we do. The other orthodontic faculty is world class and they don’t just set the bar but raise it.

If you or anyone you know is considering orthodontic treatment with braces or invisalign come see us at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond, WA, or Duval Orthodontics in Duvall, WA.

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Dr. Helgen has had extensive training making her an expert in her specialty of orthodontics and dentofacial orthopedics. She provides comprehensive orthodontic care with braces and invisalign and loves treating patients of all ages.

Dr. Helgen was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest and graduated from Bellevue High School. An avid Husky fan since birth, she attended the University of Washington, where she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Biology. She then decided to pursue her dental education on the East Coast, attending the prestigious University of Pennsylvania School of Dentistry, in Philadelphia. With a passion for orthodontics from an early age, Dr. Helgen was thrilled to be selected for specialty training at the University of Pennsylvania, where she earned her Certificate in Orthodontics.

Dr. Helgen has always enjoyed giving back to the community. During dental school, she planned several blood drives, health fairs, and multiple fundraisers for various charities. She also regularly provided dental screenings and oral health education for homeless women and children in the Philadelphia area throughout dental school and her orthodontic residency.

Dr. Helgen is passionate about orthodontics and is committed to providing the best care possible for her patients. She is a member of the American Association of Orthodontics, American Dental Association, Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists, Washington State Dental Association, Washington State Society of Orthodontists, and the Seattle King County Dental Society. Dr. Helgen is actively involved in continuing education. Dr. Lindsey Helgen and Dr. Matthew Bruner work together to diagnose and treat all of their patients. In this way they have double the diagnosing expertise, more available chair time for their patients, and can provide outstanding care for all of their patients at every appointment.

When Dr. Helgen is not delivering smiles at Bruner Orthodontics or Duvall Orthodontics she enjoys traveling, skiing, running, and spending time with her fiance Steve and her family.

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If your child is participating sports, especially sports where the potential to be hit by a ball or another player is present, a mouthguard should be considered a necessary piece of equipment. According to the American Dental Association, about 10 to 20% of all sports-related injuries involve the mouth or face. We like to help our patients avoid injury whenever possible. Take a look at some of the pictures we took  with our athletes!

You can also take a look at some of our other fun office events that we hold for our patients on our Bruner Orthodontics Facebook page.

If you or anyone you know are thinking about orthodontic treatment with braces or invisalign please give our office a call. We will be more than happy to schedule you a complimentary consultation!

The post Dr. Bruner Gives Mouthguards to the Bruner Orthodontic Athletes appeared first on Bruner Ortho.

HOT SHOT CONTEST

All of our hot shot winners have been practicing their basketball skills over the past few weeks. They all will be coming back into our office next week for our final shoot out and the winner will get an ipad mini! These contestants made it into this contest by being great patients which entails: coming on time to appointments, wearing elastics, good oral hygience etc. When they came in for their appointments over the past few months, they got to take a shot on our Bruner hoop and now all those winners are coming back to show off their skills! Take a look at the fun from last years final shoot out here.

If you were a hot shot winner and have been invited to come back for our final shoot out, RSVP here!!

MOTHER’S DAY CONTEST

Mother’s Day is right around the corner. All of our patients are going to be writing a nice post card to their mom’s and we will be decorating our walls with those sweet words and bright colors. Take a look here at the fun post cards we got to have up in our office last year Once Mother’s Day gets closer, we will be sending those post cards out to all of the mom’s. We also will be randomly selecting a winner and that winner will receive dinner and a movie for two!

Be sure to like our Bruner Orthodontics Facebook page for updates on these contests as well as many other fun summer events that we will have taking place!!!

If you know of anyone that is interested in invisalign or braces, we’d love to have them come in for a complimentary consultation with Dr. Bruner. If you have any questions on these events on in general, please give our office a call at 425.883.3353.

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We are so thankful to work closely with and support our local organizations, like the Girl Scouts, that are continually building into the lives of our young people. At Bruner Orthodontics we try to do the same thing: encouraging and equipping, educating and motivating our patients to be the best they can be! If you or someone you know is in need of orthodontic care, please consider us at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond!

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What: This contest is a chance for each patient to have fun and win movie tickets and an iPad mini!

Why: Dr. Matt Bruner and Dr. Lindsey Helgen feel strongly that our patients should love coming to our office. As a team we work to make sure that our patients get educated and motivated to do the things they need to do to achieve great orthodontic results. The main things to get great results in a short time are keeping your teeth clean, being careful to avoid breaking any of your braces, coming to your appointment on time, and wearing your elastics as prescribed. And by doing all of this you can have the best orthodontic results in the shortest time!

You are eligible to take a shot at our basket every time you come to your appointment!! We will run this “Hot Shot” contest through the end of the March Madness College Basketball Tournament.

How: If you make your basket you win a movie pass! And all winners will be invited back for the Bruner Orthodontic Hot Shot Shootout where you can win the iPad!

As always, if you, a family member, or a friend are interested in having orthodontic treatment come see us at Bruner Orthodontics in Redmond or Duvall Orthodontics in Duvall! Dr. Bruner is a board certified orthodontist, an appointed faculty member of the prestigious University of the Pacific Orthodontic Residency Training Program in San Francisco, a leading provider in Damon Braces, and a Premier Provider of Invisalign.

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HALLOWEEN CANDY GIVE BACK 

Do you have any unopened Halloween candy that you won’t be eating? Bring it in to our office by November 22 to be eligible for our grand prize! You will receive 1 raffle ticket per pound of candy you bring in. We will randomly select a winner and the prize this year is dinner and a movie for the family!

FOOD DRIVE

We have partnered with Northwest Harvest this year and are collecting food items to help out those in need in our area. We would love for you to team up with us here at Bruner Orthodontics give back to our community. A few suggested food items would be: whole grain pastas, canned food/vegetables/fruit, pastas, jars of baby food, baby diapers, oatmeal.

THANKFUL TURKEYS

We all have so much to be thankful for and we love to be able to remind ourselves of those special things. Our patients have been writing on paper turkeys what they are thankful for and we have been decorating our walls with those kind words. After Thanksgiving, we will randomly select a winner and that winner will receive an ipad mini! Make sure to ask about any of our staff members about this when you are in our office!

If you have any questions or happen to be interested in braces or invisalign, please give our office a call at 425.883.3353 and we can set up a complimentary consultation for you!

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